Understanding PIVOT function in T-SQL

Question

I am very new to SQL.

I have a table like this:

ID | TeamID | UserID | ElementID | PhaseID | Effort
-----------------------------------------------------
1  |   1    |  1      |   3       |  5     |   6.74
2  |   1    |  1      |   3       |  6     |   8.25
3  |   1    |  1      |   4       |  1     |   2.23
4  |   1    |  1      |   4       |  5     |   6.8
5  |   1    |  1      |   4       |  6     |   1.5

And I was told to get data like this

ElementID | PhaseID1 | PhaseID5 | PhaseID6
--------------------------------------------
    3     |   NULL   |   6.74   |   8.25
    4     |   2.23   |   6.8    |   1.5

I understand I need to use PIVOT function. But can't understand it clearly. It would be great help if somebody can explain it in above case.(or any alternatives if any)

Answer 1

These are the very basic pivot example kindly go through that.

SQL SERVER – PIVOT and UNPIVOT Table Examples

Example from above link for the product table:

SELECT PRODUCT, FRED, KATE
FROM (
SELECT CUST, PRODUCT, QTY
FROM Product) up
 PIVOT (SUM(QTY) FOR CUST IN (FRED, KATE)) AS pvt
ORDER BY PRODUCT

renders:

 PRODUCT FRED  KATE
 --------------------
 BEER     24    12
 MILK      3     1
 SODA   NULL     6
 VEG    NULL     5

Similar examples can be found in the blog post Pivot tables in SQL Server. A simple sample

Answer 2

A PIVOT used to rotate the data from one column into multiple columns.

For your example here is a STATIC Pivot meaning you hard code the columns that you want to rotate:

create table temp
(
  id int,
  teamid int,
  userid int,
  elementid int,
  phaseid int,
  effort decimal(10, 5)
)

insert into temp values (1,1,1,3,5,6.74)
insert into temp values (2,1,1,3,6,8.25)
insert into temp values (3,1,1,4,1,2.23)
insert into temp values (4,1,1,4,5,6.8)
insert into temp values (5,1,1,4,6,1.5)

select elementid
  , [1] as phaseid1
  , [5] as phaseid5
  , [6] as phaseid6
from
(
  select elementid, phaseid, effort
  from temp
) x
pivot
(
  max(effort)
  for phaseid in([1], [5], [6])
)p

Here is a SQL Demo with a working version.

This can also be done through a dynamic PIVOT where you create the list of columns dynamically and perform the PIVOT.

DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @query  AS NVARCHAR(MAX);

select @cols = STUFF((SELECT distinct ',' + QUOTENAME(c.phaseid) 
            FROM temp c
            FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
            ).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)') 
        ,1,1,'')

set @query = 'SELECT elementid, ' + @cols + ' from 
            (
                select elementid, phaseid, effort
                from temp
           ) x
            pivot 
            (
                 max(effort)
                for phaseid in (' + @cols + ')
            ) p '


execute(@query)

The results for both:

ELEMENTID   PHASEID1    PHASEID5    PHASEID6
3           Null        6.74        8.25
4           2.23        6.8         1.5

Answer 3

To set Compatibility error

use this before using pivot function

ALTER DATABASE [dbname] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 100  

Answer 4

    SELECT <non-pivoted column>,
    [first pivoted column] AS <column name>,
    [second pivoted column] AS <column name>,
    ...
    [last pivoted column] AS <column name>
FROM
    (<SELECT query that produces the data>)
    AS <alias for the source query>
PIVOT
(
    <aggregation function>(<column being aggregated>)
FOR
[<column that contains the values that will become column headers>]
    IN ( [first pivoted column], [second pivoted column],
    ... [last pivoted column])
) AS <alias for the pivot table>
<optional ORDER BY clause>;

USE AdventureWorks2008R2 ;
GO
SELECT DaysToManufacture, AVG(StandardCost) AS AverageCost 
FROM Production.Product
GROUP BY DaysToManufacture;

    DaysToManufacture          AverageCost
0                          5.0885
1                          223.88
2                          359.1082
4                          949.4105

    -- Pivot table with one row and five columns
SELECT 'AverageCost' AS Cost_Sorted_By_Production_Days, 
[0], [1], [2], [3], [4]
FROM
(SELECT DaysToManufacture, StandardCost 
    FROM Production.Product) AS SourceTable
PIVOT
(
AVG(StandardCost)
FOR DaysToManufacture IN ([0], [1], [2], [3], [4])
) AS PivotTable;




Here is the result set.
Cost_Sorted_By_Production_Days    0         1         2           3       4       
AverageCost                       5.0885    223.88    359.1082    NULL    949.4105

Answer 5

I was new to this and I create a nice post about it... My problem was understanding how to apply aggregation correctly and here is my post: http://jaider.net/posts/1176-pivot-in-sql-server-correct-aggregated-results/

In @bluefeet solution, It's important to mention that elementid is the key column of your "invisible" Group By. Additionally, you can replace elementid or add more columns such as userid.